There was a time when light would not shine in the universe.  There was a time when nothing was shining, and the universe was full of light-absorbing gas. But the first stars came, and pushed back the darkness and made the heavens clear. This is the story of the dark age of the universe. Physicists Vicky Scowcroft and Mike Zemcov explain everything to THE TOLKEIN PROFESSOR Corey Olsen.  ..read more

Teachers take things from an unrefined state to a point where they are wonderous. Poets are apt at describing both of these. This episode of TiPhy aims to teach genius poet Taylor Mali about where the planets in our solar system came from. Taylor's time with us was a little short, and our conversation broached many topics. listen after the end music to hear some crazy conversations. My physicists are Catherine and Dave ..read more

So. If someone comes up to you and tells you that there are planets out there made of ice and water, you'd go "yeah". and if they said "there are planets made of diamond", you'd probably shrug. what if I told you there were stars made of pasta? well there aren't. theyr'e made of protons and neutrons and electrons that are shaped like pasta!  PASTA PHASES OF MATTER IN NEUTRON STARS!!!! My guest is my old pal  sean martin. My experts are Jocelyn Read and Andrew Steiner. FUN ..read more

So Tia and Ken and I talk with Dave Shumka from Stop Podcasting Yourself! we talk about accelerators. how they work. what they get used for. whether aspiring supervillains sould invest in a particle accelerator or a giant laser. How Congress is in the pocket of big chud. (we have too much fun). um. listen past the end song to hear more conversation.  ..read more

Q-Bits!  we're talking about quantum computers today! ha. Okay! our guest today is comicbookgirl19, and my experts are Omair Taibah and Katherine Brown. This episode is fun, but the audio quality is BAAD.  After weeks of obsessive work, I had to make poor john give up on trying to fix this thing. sorry.  ..read more

So. One day we will be a space-faring species.  currently, we're more of an "earth orbit" faring species.  anyway. we'll need large structures to help us get into space, and maybe to help us live in space. MEGASTRUCTURES IN SPACE. Mur Lafferty joins Jocelyn Read and Jacob Stump and myself. WHAT FUN ..read more

Dr. Sarah and Dr. Danica Marsden are here with me in Seattle, Washington for our live show at the AAAS! We talk about how quantum computers do their quantum computer thing.  Our guests are Old friends of the show: Matt Sheehy (from Lost Lander), and Brent Knopf (From Ramona Falls and El VY ..read more

Our Guest Today is Ted Leo, of "Ted Leo and the Pharmacists" Fame. Our experts today are Dr. Danica Marsden and Dr. Stephanie Simmons.  Our topic is QUANTUM COHERENCE and DECOHERENCE: how a quantum superposition will not stay that way forever. The Environment will start asking it questions until our system loses coherence.  ..read more

The topic of this Episode is O-type stars, the biggest, brightest stars in the universe! Astrophysicists Dr. Benjamin Brown and Hannalore Gerling-Dunsmore break it all down for our guest Ryan North (of Dinosaur Comics, and Squirrel Girl).  ..read more

Today's guest is a marvel! It's the host of the Drabblecast: Norm Sherman! Norm joins Dr. Ken Clark and Dr. Katelin Schutz, experts in dark matters.  today we talk about dark matter candidates: our best guesses for what is causing the crush we feel but cannot see.  ..read more